Improved amalgamator for collecting gold and silver



GEORGE S. CURTIS AND HENRY CURTIS, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Letters Patent No. 87,248, dated Februma/ 23, 1869. 4

IMPROVED AMALG-AMATOR FOR COLLECTING- GOLD AND SILVER The Schedulereferred to in these Letters Patent and making parl: of the s'ame.

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To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE S. CURTIS and HENRY CURTIS, both of Chicago,in the county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented a new anduseful Iniprovemeut in Amalgamators; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full and correct description of the same, suicien-t toenable others skilled in the art to which our invention ppertains, tofully understand and use the saine, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of our invention, and

Figure 2 is a longitudinalv vertical section of the same.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in both figures. f

The nature of our invention consists in so constructing an arnalgamator,for separating gold and silver from pulverized quartz, by passing thelatter' through a bath of quicksilver, that the quicksilver, and with ita quantity of fine particles of gold or silver, which, in commonainalgamators, is usually carried off with the quartz and lost, will besaved and reconducted to the bath.'7

A, in the drawings, may represent the conductor into which thepulverized quartz is thrown, and which conducts the saine to the bath B.

This conductor is perpendicular, and, by preference, of square or oblongform| but any shapeis suitable.

The bath B is lined with copper-amalgam plate, and ends in an upwardopening, C, which is formed by the cover D of the bath, and acontinuation, E, of the bath B, which forms an inclined amalgam-plate,provided with sides F, the incline being toward the bath.

These sidcs F are fasten-ed to the vertical end-piece D of the cover Dby means of screws, or in any other suitable manner.

Situated over the inclined amalgam-plate E, and in any suitable mannerattached to the sides F, is a water-showering box, G, of about the sainelength as the inclined plate, provided with a supply-pipe, Hr and havingits bottom perforated, as showu'at h.

The operation of our amalgamator is as follows:

The .bath B is filled with quicksilver, until it rises in the conductorA to a height above the plate E on under side cover D, the pulver-izedquartz, as it runs from the battery or stamps into the conductor,passing through cleanquicksilver under the cover or plate D, which, onits under side, has an amalgam-copperplate, E, which attracts the fineparticles of gold and silver.

The quicksilver being considerably heavier than water, is displaced onlyby a greater quantity of water and quartz than itself, and the latterpassing through the clean quicksilver, and leaving the saine to attractthe particles of gold and silver, rises through the opening C, andpasses out -over the inclined plate E; and as many minute particles ofquicksilver pass out with the water and quartz, but always at the bottomof the mass, they are attracted to the amalgam-plate E, where theycollect and coagulate, and run back into the bathv B, while the mass ofquartz, always kept afloat by the spray from the showering-box B, passesoff over the inclined plate E.

It will be seen that by this means the quicksilver, and with it aquantity 'of particles of gold or silver, which is usually lost incommon arnalgainators, is

' saved, and great economy in amalgamating gained.

Having thus described our invention,

Vhat we claim as new, and desire .to secure by Letters Patent, is-- l.The construction of an amalgamator, in the manner as and for thepurposes herein described, having an amalgam-plate, E', over the bath.

2. The inclined amalgam-plate E, when constructed substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

3. The showering-box G, when constructed substaniallyas and for thepurposes described.

GEO. S. CURTIS. HENRY CURTIS. Witnesses:

Guns. B. HOLMES, CEAS. GILL.

